760 (Q49, V46)

[MikeBG]

its the first time i read this post and its awesome its an example !!!!!!!it has to be read by everybody in order to improve their scores , i`ll take not and buy All the things mentioned

[Tito]

I'm so glad u passed so well.
Thanks 4 posting the details.

I'm trying to get the book list to start preparing but I do have 1 Princeton Review. The Kaplan 800 is supposed to tackle the hardest questions on the test.

1. Did u use it?
2. Does it fulfil its promise?
3. What helped overcome the hardest questions?

Cheers T

[Tito]

I'm so glad u passed so well. It gives us all hope
Thanks 4 posting the details.

I'm trying to get the book list to start preparing but I do have 1 Princeton Review. The Kaplan 800 is supposed to tackle the hardest questions on the test.

1. Did u use it?
2. Does it fulfil its promise?
3. What helped overcome the hardest questions?

Cheers T

[xmen]

reappeared for GMAT last week and was disheartened to see my score.
660 - Q-50 V-29

In my first attempt a month back I scored 660 (Q-48 and V-33) and AWA of
5.0. I guess my score was much below my capabilities. Partly because I took the
exam too seriously, could sleep only 3 hours, night before exam. Also during
Quantitative section got nervous in between and made few mistakes in Verbal
which I realised just after coming back from exam.
In quant the amount of calculations involved were more than Power prep CAT
test but I guess difficulty was in line with Kaplan maths and Princeton
online tests. I felt lot of time pressure in quantitative section
because of spending too much of time double checking the first 20 questions
and felt so much time pressure than I had to guess on few questions which I
could have solved if I had one extra minute on average for each of these tough
questions. So my score was low but I knew where things went wrong. In
verbal I felt I was weak in RC and not very comfortable in SC.
My advise don't waste too much time double checking answers.

After coming back I started again more rigorously this time. Spending good
amount of time doing all harder maths problems in the same test. Put myself
through time pressure. Also for verbal again did studied Official Guide again trying to
learn concepts. Spend lot of time improving on SC and RC. During practise
test I noticed good increase in my verbal score. I was scoring most of the
time over 40 and couple of times 38. I tried test which i had never
taken before and was scoring in same range. I was scoring pretty good in RC
and CR and making few mistakes in SC. PowerPrep second test scored 770 but was remembering most of questions from Official Guide

Then came the day for second attempt. Was keeping cool the day before exam and
had a nice sleep. Was also feeling confident of striking over 700 this
time. Started maths sections with much better control but few silly
calculations forced me to redo the questions when I didn't find the answer
among choices. Wasted time because of it and had to guess on two questions
to gain speed. But difficulty level of questions this time was better than
last time. So thought that I will again score 48-49 minimun.

Then came the verbal section. I found the difficulty level of questions
better than last time. But I was also feeling more confident answering my
questions this time. One of RC was very long (around 70 lines) and tough
unlike first time. Got 2 boldface questions ( first time there was only
one). I felt I did good on CR and Rc and SC it shouldn't be worse than what
i was doing at home. After finihsing the test, I had the feeling that I
should be getting 48-49 in maths and atleast 38 in verbal, as questions
appeared more difficult to me and I was more confident answering them. But
when the score flashed I was disheartned to see very low verbal score - 29
which had infact fallen down from last time (Q-33). I had never scored so
low. Infact even without any preperation or touching Official Guide i scored 33 in
verbal on Power prep test before my first attempt) and 36 in second test (
before first attempt)

Never had done so bad before. Don't know what went wrong. Not able to
find even one reason which could have resulted in such a low score.
Ursala please advise what can I do for next time. Is it ok appearing again. i need to score in 700's. The problem I am having now is that i have already done Official Guide three times and almost remember all the questions. Done kaplan and princeton. Also what should I do that will give me correct idea that there is improvement from last time. What new material I can try especially for verbal section.

Please advise.

thanks,

[rak]

Hi

I am Rak. I am new to this forum. I am planning to start on my GMAT preparations shortly. Ursula, your messages regarding your preparations and your success formula are truly inspiring!

Thanks,
Rak

[thegreatmughal]

hi ursula,
awsome score. this level of score i use to dream. quite amazed to see that the previous exam you gave was 22 yrs ago. "hats-off to you". i can very well judge by your detailed tips/ advise for GMAT preparations that how methodologically you prepared for the test. sounds great.. even inspiring too (atleast for me, but i am sure that there are many guys like me with same thought). i also thanks "people behind this forum" for putting these invaluable stuff and people..
cheers ursula !!!

[cmtorry]

Ursula/All who want to assist,

I know this may sound like a broken record, but I don't normally frequent message boards and surely don't post messages! However, after happening upon this board today after my dismal performance on the GMAT I wondered if it was fate. I scored a 550 today and could not tell you the breakdown since after I saw the 550 I just stopped looking. I have spent about a month (which seems paltry in comparison to some) but have worked through the Kaplan 2003 book and CD, the Kaplan GMAT GRE math review, GMAT for Dummies, and of course PowerPrep. 550 is at the bottom end of all of my practice test scores, and I don't believe is indicative of my ability. I can say that in comparison to some of your posts I did not "plan" any where near enough, and wonder/hope that was the problem. What could you suggest as a time frame to repeat the test and how to prepare (considering the study guides used) with the time constraint of Feb. 1 (app deadline)
Thanks

[steve_shekhar]

cmtorry,

I will advise you not to think too much about thy past GMAT. It was just a bad day.

Get few lessons from it and believe that you can do great on the next GMAT by following a good strategy at exam and proper plan during preparation.

Good Luck,
Steve

[mahaveloramaro]

Hello y'all: thanks for the many advices. I want to make you aware of an undocumented feature of GMAT test.

I took the AWA without problem. I had 5 minutes break between the AWA and the Quant. I took the Quant. without problem. Went for another 5 minutes break. Because the test site was over crowded, I have had to stay in line to wait for my turn to use a uni-sex bathroom...so my break became about 15 to 20 minutes. When I went back to resume the test at the Verbal section, I had like 50 minutes only!

It appears as if the computer computed all breaks against my time. Result: Q=40; V=23; GMAT=590.

Has this happened to anyone else? If I were not taking a break at all, would the computer add 10 minutes (2 times 5 minutes) to my overall GMAT time? In which section would the time be added: verbal I assume?

Thanks for giving your opinion on this. M. Rama Ro

[Gmat Freak]

hi all! 3/12 was my G day. Score: M 49 (90%) V 30 (60%) Total 650 (86%). From 580 it is a rather good increase... Hopefully this will be enough for an ivey college.
Thank you ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLL for all the advice, the material and of course all the threads !!!!!!!!!!!!! Hopefully we will meet in some college!!!!!!!!!